PAST SEASONS

2017 Season

MAY 30 – JUNE 17, 2017

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
DIRECTED BY DANIEL C. DENNIS

The course of true love never did run smooth.

Father knows best in the stifling city, but outside in the woods—anything happens, everything goes. In Shakespeare’s most uproarious and delicious comedy, four teens fool their fathers and skip town to elope in an enchanted forest. But it’s night and confusing, and the fairies are feuding, and who knows who you’re smooching. Topsy goes turvy, bottom is top, and a donkey is king. Just when the whole world feels mad, we wake from the dream to a spanking new day—true selves are discovered, true lovers uncovered. Join in on our fantasy and experience the delight of midsummer!

JULY 05 – JULY 22, 2017

BOOK AND LYRICS BY TONY KUSHNER
MUSIC BY JEANINE TESORI
DIRECTOR ROBERT BARRY FLEMING

Change come fast and change come slow.

It’s 1963 in Louisiana, and for Caroline Thibodeaux the world is changing too fast. The president has just been shot and a fight for racial justice is sweeping the nation. Caroline, a black maid serving a Jewish household, desires only a good night’s rest and a decent life for her children. A melodious moon provides the commentary as her relationship with young Noah, the precocious son of her employers, becomes complicated by pocket change. With its moving rock, gospel, and klezmer score, this magical, Tony Award-nominated musical is a riveting statement addressed to a nation still gripped by inequality.

AUGUST 01 – AUGUST 19, 2017

BY GREG BANKS
FROM THE SCREENPLAY BY JIM SHERIDAN
MUSIC BY THOMAS JOHNSON
DIRECTED BY JEN WINEMAN

A white horse, a lost mother, and the adventure of a lifetime.

Ally and Finn settle in the big city of Dublin, expecting a better life. But, trapped in mourning for their mother, they merely take care of Pa, who tries to drink away her memory. When a mythical horse trots into the scene, they race off into the Irish countryside. At the end of their journey is the sea, their father transformed, and even a bit of what they’ve lost. With just three actors playing sixty roles, and with live music throughout, Into the West bursts with imagination and heart–and it’s perfect for the whole family.

2016 Season

BOOK AND LYRICS BY HOWARD ASHMAN
MUSIC BY ALAN MENKEN
BASED ON A FILM BY ROGER CORMAN
SCREENPLAY BY CHARLES GRIFFITH
DIRECTED BY DANIEL C. DENNIS

Just your typical comedy-horror-rock musical about a boy, a girl, and a carnivorous houseplant.

Poor, hapless Seymour only wants to impress the girl of his dreams. Perhaps cultivating a blood-thirsty plant will gain him the fame and fortune he needs? Just a few bodies later, and suddenly Seymour is standing in a flower shop on skid row battling a deadly threat to humanity’s very existence. Bring your green thumb and join us for this delightfully twisted cult-movie romp about love, murder, and the American Dream.

The Columbus Dispatch called our production Little Shop of Horrors “an impressive central Ohio debut,” said that it “delivers the goods— and the laughs,” and predicted (quite smartly, we think) that Tantrum would offer “more high quality entertainment to come.”

Reveal yourself.

Tammy Faye Bakker was the sweetheart of Christian television in the 1980s until fraud and sex scandals brought her world crashing down. In this fevered dream at the end of her life, Tammy Faye enlists the men she loved to help her get back on TV and tape one last media extravaganza. Merri Biechler’s new play wipes clean the mascara and tears to make known the naked truth, and ask: to whom, and for what, do we so desperately devote ourselves?

The Columbus Dispatch heralded Tammy Faye’s Final Audition as “touching, amusing, and ultimately inspiring,” said that it “packed a punch,” and it rained praise down upon our “superb two member cast.”

Can love set you free?

Journey to the heart of Ireland to experience the pulsating energy of a Celtic harvest festival, and remember for a moment a simple life filled with laughter and hope. In one of Ireland’s most beloved and powerful plays, five indomitable sisters dance through memories of family, tenderness, and heartbreak—as the world tumbles towards revolution.

The Columbus Dispatch praised our director saying she “made the play shine,” and that our choreographer created “elegantly simple” choreography especially in one “breathtaking” scene. We like to think so, and agree that it complemented the “dreamlike” set. Overall, the Dispatch thought it was an “exercise in nostalgia come tensely alive.”